Bibliograph

A perfect moral storm, the ethical tragedy of climate change, Stephen M. Gardiner

Type

Label

A perfect moral storm, the ethical tragedy of climate change, Stephen M. Gardiner

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 465-482) and index

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

A perfect moral storm

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

649927550

Responsibility statement

Stephen M. Gardiner

Series statement

Environmental ethics and science policy series

Sub title

the ethical tragedy of climate change

Summary

Climate change is arguably the great problem confronting humanity, but we have done little to head off this looming catastrophe. In The Perfect Moral Storm, philosopher Stephen Gardiner illuminates our dangerous inaction by placing the environmental crisis in an entirely new light, considering it as an ethical failure. Gardiner clarifies the moral situation, identifying the temptations (or "storms") that make us vulnerable to a certain kind of corruption. First, the world's most affluent nations are tempted to pass on the cost of climate change to the poorer and weaker citizens of the world. Second, the present generation is tempted to pass the problem on to future generations. Third, our poor grasp of science, international justice, and the human relationship to nature helps to facilitate inaction. As a result, we are engaging in willful self-deception when the lives of future generations, the world's poor, and even the basic fabric of life on the planet is at stake. We should wake up to this profound ethical failure, Gardiner concludes, and demand more of our institutions, our leaders and ourselves --, Provided by Publisher

Table Of Contents

The global environmental tragedy -- A perfect moral storm -- The consumption tragedy -- Somebody else's problem? -- A shadowy and evolving tragedy -- The tyranny of the contemporary -- An intergenerational arms race? -- A global test for political institutions and theories -- Cost-benefit paralysis -- Jane Austen vs. climate economics -- Geoengineering in an atmosphere of evil -- Some initial ethics for the transition -- The immediate future -- Appendix 1: The population tragedy -- Appendix 2: Epistemic corruption and scientific uncertainty in Michael Crichton's State of fear

Classification